In April, Dr. Mark Speake took a team of physicians from Naples, Florida to work alongside our Camotan Clinic team. Dr. Speake has become an integral part of the Camotan Clinic. He makes several trips a year to work at the clinic. And because he is an instructor at a medical residency program in Naples, he brings residents (physicians in training) with him. It is an amazing coming together of cultures. We have Guatemalan residents who work daily in Camotan Clinic. The week of US residents working alongside Guatemalan residents is an opportunity to share, collaborate and enjoy the art of medicine together.
US resident physician Alina Chevtsov (L), Corina Chacon-translator (2nd from L) collaborating with 2 Guatemalan residents (2nd, 3rd from R) and a patient (R)
Our Camotan team as usual was headed by Dr. Jovita Toledo who arranges almost all logistics and manages Camotan Clinic daily in Guatemala. She is a big reason for our growth and success over the years. And as you can see below, she is very resourceful when needing to remove teeth in the remote mountain villages!
Deisy, one of our clinic nurses (L) and Dr. Toledo (R) performing dental care in a remote mountain village. No dental chairs makes care challenging but we make do!
April and May are often the hottest months of the year in Camotan. And this trip did not disappoint. The team worked in conditions near 100F each day. The clinic is air conditioned. But each day some providers stay in the clinic and others go to remote mountain villages to see patients who could never come down to Camotan. The mountain villages all have schools and it is usually in these schools (K-5 is all that villagers receive) that we do much of our remote work.
Salome Betancourth one of our clinic staff works on dispensing medicines from a remote mountain location
Dr. Brittany Davis (L)–US medical resident , Corrina Chacon–translator and Dr. Jose Montero (R)–Guatemalan medical resident, work together to help a rural mountain family receive needed care.
Our team in April noted the need for food in the villages was great. Dr. Speake’s team noted that mothers were thin and babies were quite skinny. The team saw over 370 patients in the villages during that week. They handed out a large number of nutritional supplements for the mothers and babies as well. Dr. Speake has been coming to Camotan for roughly 15 years. He noted that the overall health has gradually improved in the villages over this timeframe. However there is much work yet to be done.
Dr. Jeffrey Meija (R), one of our former residents, came back just to help out the team (and see old friends!) during the April work week.
Weeks like this are a wonderful experience for everyone involved. The work is hard, the climate a challenge and the logistics are complicated. Moving a large medical team over rough mountain roads with medical supplies is not easy. But we love doing this work. And it is the support of all of you who make everything we do possible. So thank you! We are grateful to all of you for working alongside of us as we deliver care to those most in need.
Thank you for reading!